Welcome to the Subsidence District...
 We
have some critical
responsibilities here at the
Subsidence District...
The Harris-Galveston
Subsidence District is a
special purpose district
created by the Texas
Legislature in 1975. The
District was created to
provide
for the regulation of
groundwater withdrawal
throughout Harris and
Galveston
counties for the purpose of
preventing land subsidence,
which leads to
increased flooding. The
District’s enabling
legislation is found in
Chapter 8801
of the Special Districts
Code.We
achieve our goals through a combination of
efforts. Of great importance is controlling subsidence
by managing how we use our groundwater resources. This is
accomplished through the careful regulation of groundwater
withdrawals, working in collaboration with surface water
suppliers. And just as significant – short-term and
long-term – is the teaching and implementation of water
conservation throughout our communities, neighborhoods,
businesses, and households…all the way down to the youngest
family members.
We are frequently asked, "What, exactly, is subsidence and how are
groundwater resources managed? And how do we successfully
teach our water users to conserve?"
Let’s start with
subsidence. Webster’s defines it as “to sink, to fall to the
bottom; to settle.” Well, that’s exactly what some of the land
in our area has been doing since the 1920’s. Prior to World
War II, areas with significant industrial and petrochemical
development, such as Baytown and Texas City, experienced
significant, localized subsidence. This trend continued during
and after World War II, when rapid industrial and municipal
growth began to create broad, regional patterns of subsidence,
raising serious concerns over flooding.
 In fact, in the critical areas along Galveston Bay, the land
surface has sunk as much as 10 feet since 1906! Experts have
been studying the subsidence phenomena for almost 100 years,
and with each hurricane we have weathered, we’ve seen
subsidence and flooding problems worsen.
One dramatic example of this was in the Brownwood subdivision,
a coastal community of Baytown where almost continual
flooding due to subsidence caused the area to eventually be
abandoned.
In 1975, as a result of area residents and local governments
becoming increasingly alarmed by the continued impact of
subsidence on economic growth and quality of life in the
region, the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District was
created by the 64th Texas Legislature as an underground water
conservation district. Our main role at that time was to
provide for the regulation of the withdrawal of groundwater to
control subsidence. The challenge had begun. In that first
year, we diligently gathered information on the Chicot and
Evangeline aquifers. We analyzed planning information to learn
more about water usage and water supply within our boundaries,
and we began implementing regulatory procedures that led to
our first groundwater regulatory plan.
Through the years, the management of our groundwater resources
has involved significant coordination with regional ground and
surface water suppliers; ongoing interaction with other state
and local regulatory bodies; analysis of accurate and up to
date predictions on water usage; the enforcement of real
disincentives to those who rely too heavily on groundwater;
and an unwavering commitment to practicing and promoting water
conservation.
As we look to the future, we realize that stewardship of our
most precious natural resource will become even more
important. We will continue to expand our efforts through
collaboration with our partners and outreach through education
and programs that underscore important conservation messages
in the community.
We invite you to learn more about subsidence and how we
monitor it. If you’re an educator, find out how to deliver key
conservation messages to youngsters, and, for groundwater
users and those in the water industry, use this site for
convenient access to reports and interactive forms. It’s all
at your fingertips – we hope you enjoy it!
Ron Neighbors,
HGSD General Manager |
